Relaying device and communication system

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a relaying device which performs the individual calling in response to not only a call incoming from a telephone but also a call incoming from a transceiver. When receiving a communication request from another device over a network, the relaying device determines if this communication request is accompanied by the wireless-device specifying information (ID). When the communication request is not accompanied by the ID, the relaying device sends a signal for prompting another device to input the ID. When the ID is sent in response to the sent signal, the relaying device instructs the relaying wireless device to call the wireless terminal device specified by this ID. In addition, when the communication request is accompanied by the ID, the relaying device instructs the relaying wireless device to call the wireless terminal device specified by this ID.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a relaying device which relayscommunications to a wireless device from another wireless device or atelephone over a network.

2. Description of the Related Art

A relaying device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent ApplicationPublication No. 2011-135290, for example, is proposed which relayscommunications over a network such as a LAN, so that transceivers inareas where radio waves do not reach each other of the transceivers canperform communications. Moreover, in this system, it is also possible toperform communications between a transceiver and a telephone by relayingthe communications with the relaying device.

However, since transceivers communicate with one relaying device in thesystem described above, one transceiver cannot be specified. Therefore,communication voices relayed by the relaying device can be listened byall the transceivers connected to the relaying device.

Thus, it is considered for the communications to perform the individualcalling of a transceiver from the relaying device, in order to preventother transceivers from intercepting communication contents. Thetelephone system normally utilizes multiple numbers to dial, such asexternal number+extension number. It is also desirable even in thetransceiver system to specify an arbitrary transceiver by the dial ofmultiple numbers. On the other hand, since a wireless device such as aportable transceiver is usually manipulated with one hand and has asmall number of buttons, the simple manipulation is desired for thewireless device to quickly perform the individual calling of acommunication partner device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a relaying device thatcan perform the individual calling in response to both of the callincoming from a telephone and the call incoming from a transceiver.

A relaying device according to the present invention comprises: awireless device interface to which a relaying wireless devicecommunicating with more than one wireless terminal device is connected;a network interface connected to a data communication network andreceiving a communication request and wireless-device specifyinginformation for specifying one of the wireless terminal devices fromanother device connected to the network; and a control unit connected tothe wireless device interface and the network interface. When receivinga communication request from another device, the control unit determineswhether the communication request is accompanied by the wireless-devicespecifying information. When the communication request is notaccompanied by the wireless-device specifying information, the controlunit sends a signal prompting an input of wireless-device specifyinginformation to above-mentioned another device. After above-mentionedanother device sends the wireless-device specifying information, thecontrol unit instructs the relaying wireless device to call the wirelessterminal device specified by the information. In addition, when thecommunication request is accompanied by the wireless-device specifyinginformation, the control unit instructs the relaying wireless device tocall the wireless terminal device specified by the information.

The communication request sent from another device may be an INVITEmessage of SIP protocol. In that case, the wireless-device specifyinginformation may be embedded into a TO header.

According to the present invention, when the communication request isaccompanied by the wireless-device specifying information, theindividual calling is performed to a wireless terminal device based onthis wireless-device specifying information. Therefore, it is possibleto establish the communication with a simplified procedure. In addition,when the communication request is not accompanied by the wireless-devicespecifying information, another device as a communication partner isrequested to send the wireless-device specifying information again.Then, the individual calling is performed to a wireless terminal devicebased on the wireless-device specifying information received due to therequest. Therefore, it is possible to receive a communication requesthaving high flexibility for the selection and sending of thewireless-device specifying information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a communication system employing arelaying device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a content stored in a transceiver as a wireless terminaldevice.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the relaying device.

FIG. 4 shows a content stored in a storage unit of the relaying device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an operation of the relying device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, a description will be given of a communication systemincluding a relaying device according to the present invention, withreference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a configurationdiagram of the communication system. In this communication system, bymeans of a relaying device 2, transceivers 4 as the wireless terminaldevices can communicate with each other, and the transceivers 4 cancommunicate with an IP telephone 6 or with a telephone 8.

The network 1 may employ a LAN configured by Ethernet (TM), or theInternet. A plurality of the relaying devices 2 (the two relayingdevices 2 in FIG. 1) are connected to the network 1. The relayingdevices (2A, 2B) respectively cover different communication areas A andB. The repeaters 3 (3A, 3B) are connected to the relaying devices 2. Therepeater 3 is a stationary transceiver, which may be a half-duplexcommunication equipment of a so-called push-to-talk (PTT) type, or maybe full-duplex communication equipment which can send and receivesimultaneously. One or more (two in drawings) transceivers 4 (4A-1, 2;4B-1, 2) are present within the communication areas of the repeaters 3.

The repeater 3 and the transceiver 4 are digital transceivers of a typewhich can communicate with each other. The digital transceivers canwirelessly send and receive an audio signal or data converted into adigital signal. In addition, the digital transceivers can send andreceive control information, such as destination information, inparallel with the sending and receiving operations of the audio signal.The repeater 3 packetizes a digital signal received from the transceiver4, and then not only inputs the packetized signal into the relayingdevice 2 but also extracts an audio signal or control information frompackets input from the relaying device 2 so as to convert the extractedaudio signal or control information into time-based digital signals andto send them. The repeater 3 corresponds to the relaying wireless deviceof the present invention, and the transceiver 4 corresponds to thewireless terminal device of the present invention.

The IP telephone 6 and a VoIP gateway 7 are connected to the network 1.The telephone 8 is connected to the VoIP gateway 7. The VoIP gateway isa gateway device which relays the VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)procedure for transferring audio signals through the network 1 to thetelephone 8 as a voice communication device.

The following embodiment explains the case that the IP telephone 6, thetelephone 8, or the transceiver 4B-1 or 4B-2 sends the communicationrequest to the relaying device 2A for communicating with the transceiver4A-1 or 4A-2.

The relaying device 2 includes a simple SIP-server function, andoperates as described below. When a signal received from the transceiver4 via the repeater 3 includes information of a communicationdestination, the relaying device 2 sends to a partner device an INVITEmessage with a TO header which message communication destination iswritten into. In addition, when an INVITE message is received fromanother device and the received INVITE message includes wireless-deviceidentification information specifying the transceiver 4, the relayingdevice 2 makes the repeater 3 call the transceiver 4 specified by thisINVITE message. In addition, when the received INVITE message does notinclude the wireless-device identification information specifying thetransceiver 4, the relaying device 2 requests the another device to sendthe wireless-device identification information (second dial), and makesthe repeater 3 call the transceiver 4 specified by the wireless-deviceidentification information sent in response to the request.

As shown in FIG. 2, the transceiver 4 stores an ID (wireless-deviceidentification information) identifying the local station, and a numberfor the group to which the local station pertains. When the localstation ID or the local station group number is embedded into thereceived digital signal as the destination information, the transceiver4 demodulates this digital signal into an audio signal and outputs theaudio signal from a speaker or the like. When the local station ID orthe local station group number is not embedded in the received digitalsignal, the transceiver 4 discards this digital signal. It should benoted that the local station ID and the local station group number areinserted, for example, as squelch codes into audio signals received bythe transceiver 4.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the relaying device 2. FIG. 4 shows acontent stored in the storage unit 24. The relaying device 2 includes acontrol unit 20, and further includes a wireless device interface 21 atthe downstream end (at the side of repeater 3) and a network interface22 at the upstream end (at the side of network 1). Both of the wirelessdevice interface 21 and network interface 22 can employ a connecter fora physical layer of Ethernet or the like, and are associated with aphysical layer or a data link layer in digital communications.

The wireless device interface 21 inputs a packet input from the repeater3 to the control unit 20 and transfers a packet input from the controlunit 20 to the repeater 3. The network interface 22 inputs a packetreceived from another device via the network 1 to the control unit 20and sends out a packet input from the control unit 20 to the network 1.

The control unit 20 consists of a microcomputer and the like, andfunctionally includes a SIP processing unit 23, a storage unit 24, anuplink packet processing unit 25 and a downlink packet processing unit26. A local station IP-address storing area 200, a local stationtelephone-number storing area 201, a connection information table 202and a wireless-device number table 203 shown in FIG. 4 are set in thestorage unit 24.

The SIP processing unit 23 performs the following processes, in order toallow the transceiver 4 to communicate with another device on thenetwork 1. When receiving a calling request from the transceiver 4 viathe repeater 3, the SIP processing unit 23 edits the INVITE messagebased on the communication-partner specifying information included inthis calling request, and sends the edited INVITE message to the partnerdevice.

The connection information table 202 set in the storage unit 24 storesthe connection information for connecting with the transceiver 4(connected to another relaying device 2) which is identified by thecommunication-partner specifying information. As the connectioninformation for connecting with the transceiver 4 as the communicationpartner, the connection information table 202 stores the type of calling(group calling or individual calling) and ID for identifying thetransceiver 4 as the communication partner. Furthermore, it stores IPaddresses of the relaying devices 2 to which the transceiver 4 isconnected.

When receiving a calling request from the transceiver 4 via the repeater3, the SIP processing unit 23 edits the INVITE message with using theconnection information corresponding to the communication-partnerspecifying information included in this calling request. In other word,the SIP processing unit 23 combines the ID and IP address to generate aURI and utilizes it as the destination. This destination is written intothe TO header. For example, when the communication-partner specifyinginformation represents “*1” in the connection information table 202 ofFIG. 4, the generated URI is “*0002@192.168.0.zz”. Therefore, althoughthe transceiver 4 merely sends a simple communication-partner specifyinginformation (e.g., “*1”), the SIP processing unit 23 can edit and sendthe INVITE message with which the communication partner is directlyspecified.

In addition, when receiving an INVITE message from the network 1, theSIP processing unit 23 determines which of transceiver 4 among thetransceivers 4 under its own control is the target of the calling basedon the information of the TO header in the INVITE message. The SIPprocessing unit 23 reads out a user part (a part front of “@”) of theURI written in the TO header. When the user part is not “0000”, in otherword, when the user part does not specify the relaying device 2 itself,the SIP processing unit 23 utilizes this user part as the ID to searchin the wireless-device number table 203 and identifies a correspondingtransceiver 4 (wireless device number). The SIP processing unit 23transfers the wireless device number to the repeater 3, and instructsthe repeater 3 to perform the individual calling of the identifiedtransceiver 4. When the user part is “0000” that specifies the relayingdevice 2, the SIP processing unit 23 replies a request of a second dial(sending ID) to the communication source device, and receives the IDfrom this device. Then, the SIP processing unit 23 utilizes the receiveduser information as the ID to search in the wireless-device number table203 and identifies a corresponding transceiver 4. The SIP processingunit 23 instructs the repeater 3 to perform the individual calling ofthe identified transceiver 4. After then, the SIP processing unit 23proceeds the SIP procedure, and establishes a communication (call)session.

The uplink packet processing unit 25 performs processes to read out anaudio signal from an uplink audio packet input from the repeater 3 viathe wireless device interface 21 during the communication session, toconvert it into an RTP packet, and to transfer it to the networkinterface 22. The downlink packet processing unit 26 has a VOX (VoiceOperated Relay) function, and monitors a level and duration of an audiosignal included in the RTP packet input from the network interface 22during the call session. When the level and duration of the input audiosignal respectively become equal to or more than predeterminedthresholds, the downlink packet processing unit 26 determines that anuttered voice is input from a partner device. Then, the downlink packetprocessing unit 26 converts this RTP packet into an audio packet, inwhich call information is embedded into an audio signal, and transfersit to the repeater 3. When an audio packet is input from the relayingdevice 2, the repeater 3 turns on the PTT and sends the audio signalincluded in this audio packet.

The digital signals, such as the wireless device number and thecommunication-partner specifying information, transmitted between therepeater 3 and the transceiver 4 are written into a control informationarea in the intervals between audio signals. In addition, the wirelessdevice number maybe written as squelch codes. The digital signalsincluding the written wireless device number are demodulated andreproduced only by the transceiver 4 identified by the included wirelessdevice number. This function is utilized to achieve the individualcommunication based on the selective call described above.

An example for directly specifying the communication partner by sendingan INVITE message, in which the ID of a communication partner is writtenin the user part of the URI, is described above. However, for directlyspecifying the communication partner, it may be configured that the userpart of the URI is fixed to “0000” specifying the relaying device 2, andthat the ID of the communication partner is written into a display name(DN) column of the TO header.

Here, an operation of the relaying device 2 when receiving an INVITEmessage will be described in reference with a flowchart of FIG. 5. Whenan INVITE message is received via the network interface 22, thefollowing processes are performed. At first, the control unit 20determines if the TO header of the received INVITE message includes anID for specifying a transceiver 4 (S10). When the ID is included in theTO header (YES at S10), the control unit 20 determines that the INVITEmessage is directly specifying the transceiver 4, and searches in thewireless-device number table 203 (S11). When this ID is registered inthe wireless-device number table 203 (YES at S12), the control unit 20reads out a corresponding wireless device number from thewireless-device number table (S13), transfers this wireless devicenumber to the repeater 3, and instructs to perform an individual callingof the corresponding transceiver 4 (S14). Then, the control unit 20proceeds the SIP procedure to establish a call session between thistransceiver 4 and the communication partner device. When the ID includedin the TO header is not registered in the wireless-device number table203 (NO at S12), the control unit 20 returns “BUSY” to the partnerdevice (S15). Then, the procedure is ended.

On the other hand, when the received INVITE message does not include anID for specifying a transceiver 4 (NO at S10), the control unit 20returns a signal (second-dial instructing tone) so as to instruct thepartner device to perform a second dial (S20), and prompts the input ofsecond dial, in short, the input of ID. When the ID is sent from thepartner device in response to the signal (YES at S21), the control unit20 searches in the wireless-device number table 203 with this ID (S25).When this ID is registered in the wireless-device number table 203 (YESat S26), the control unit 20 reads out a corresponding wireless devicenumber from the wireless-device number table (S27), transfers thiswireless device number to the repeater 3, and instructs to perform anindividual calling of a corresponding transceiver 4 (S28). Then, thecontrol unit 20 proceeds the SIP procedure to establish a call sessionbetween this transceiver 4 and the communication partner device. Whenthe sent ID is not registered in the wireless-device number table 203(NO at S26), the control unit 20 returns “BUSY” to the partner device(S29). Then the procedure is ended.

It should be noted that, when a timeout occurs since a certain period oftime elapses without the reception of an ID at S21 (YES at S22), thecontrol unit 20 returns “BUSY” (S29). Then, the procedure is ended.

As described above, when the ID for specifying the transceiver 4 isincluded in the TO header of the INVITE message, the control unit 20performs the individual calling of the transceiver 4 specified by the IDwithout requesting the second dial to the partner device. When no ID isincluded in the TO header of the INVITE message, the control unit 20requests the second dial to the partner device, and prompts a user ofthe partner device to input and send the ID again. Therefore, it ispossible to call from the portable transceiver 4 with a simple procedureas well as to call from a desktop telephone with high flexibility so asto allow anyone to connect.

It should be noted that the ID and the wireless device numberrespectively correspond to the wireless-device specifying information ofthe present invention.

In this embodiment, the telephone number table is utilized forconverting the ID into the telephone number. However, if the same typeof character string (number sequence) is utilized for the ID and thetelephone number, it is possible to directly utilize the ID for callingthe transceiver 4 without converting.

In this embodiment, a common table is utilized as the telephone numbertable for converting the ID included in the TO header into the telephonenumber and for converting the ID sent by the second dial into thetelephone number. However, it may be configured to include different twotables.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

1 network

2 relaying device

3 repeater

4 transceiver

6 IP telephone

7 VoIP gateway

8 telephone

1-2. (canceled)
 3. A relaying device comprising: a wireless deviceinterface connected to a relaying wireless device communicating withmore than one wireless terminal devices; a network interface connectedto a data communication network for receiving a communication requestand specifying information for specifying one of the wireless terminaldevices from a partner wireless terminal device communicating to thespecified wireless terminal device over the data communication network;and a control unit connected to the wireless device interface and thenetwork interface, wherein the control unit instructs the relayingwireless device to call the specified wireless terminal device bysending the specifying information when receiving the communicationrequest.
 4. The relaying device according to claim 3, wherein thecommunication request is sent in the form of an INVITE message of SIPprotocol over the data communication network.
 5. The relaying deviceaccording to claim 4, wherein the specifying information is embeddedinto a TO header of the INVITE message.
 6. The relaying device accordingto claim 3, wherein the control unit comprises a table which relates theidentification information transmitted from the partner wirelessterminal device (as called the received identification information) tothe identification information to be sent to the relaying wirelessdevice (as called the sending identification information); and thecontrol unit determines the sending identification information relatedto the received identification information for referred to the table andsends the sending identification information to the relaying wirelessdevice when receiving the communication request.
 7. The relaying deviceaccording to claim 4, wherein the control unit comprises a table whichrelates the identification information transmitted from the partnerwireless terminal device (as called the received identificationinformation) to the identification information to be sent to therelaying wireless device (as called the sending identificationinformation); and the control unit determines the sending identificationinformation related to the received identification information forreferred to the table and sends the sending identification informationto the relaying wireless device when receiving the communicationrequest.
 8. The relaying device according to claim 5, wherein thecontrol unit comprises a table which relates the identificationinformation transmitted from the partner wireless terminal device (ascalled the received identification information) to the identificationinformation to be sent to the relaying wireless device (as called thesending identification information); and the control unit determines thesending identification information related to the receivedidentification information for referred to the table and sends thesending identification information to the relaying wireless device whenreceiving the communication request.
 9. A relaying device comprising: anetwork interface connected to a data communication network fortransmitting or receiving an audio packet and a control packet to orfrom a phone connected to the network; a wireless device interfaceconnected to a relaying wireless device for inputting or outputting anaudio signal into or from the relaying wireless device; and a controlunit for controlling a session with the phone via the network, whereinthe relaying wireless device communicates more than one wirelessterminal devices, the each of the wireless terminal devices isidentified by a unique identification information, the control unittransmits a signal prompting the phone to input the identificationinformation when receiving the calling from the phone, and the controlunit outputs the audio signal in which the identification information isembedded as the address information to the wireless device interfacewhen the identification information is transmitted from the phone. 10.The relaying device according to claim 9, wherein the control unittransmits the prompting signal before establishing the communicationwith the phone.
 11. The relaying device according to claim 9, whereinthe control unit comprises a table which relates the identificationinformation transmitted from the phone (as called the designatingidentification information) to the identification information embeddedin the audio signal (as called the embedded identification information);and the control unit determines the embedding identification informationrelated to the designating identification information for referred tothe table and embeds the embedded identification information in theaudio signal when the designating identification information is receivedfrom the phone.
 12. A communication system, comprising: the relayingdevice according to claim 9, the relaying wireless device connected tothe wireless device interface of the relaying device; and more than oneof the wireless terminal devices communicating with the relayingwireless device; wherein the each of the wireless terminal devices isidentified by a unique identification information respectively, the eachof the wireless terminal devices comprises a storage unit for storingits own identification information, the relaying wireless devicewirelessly transmits the audio signal when the audio signal embeddingthe identification information is input from the relaying device, and ofthe more than one of the wireless terminal devices, only the wirelessterminal device identified by the embedded identification informationplays the audio signal.